Nearly a million workers Down Under turned up to the workplace drunk or under the influence of drugs last year, according to a new survey.
The findings emerged through the results of the 2007 National Drug Strategy Household survey, which found that 4 per cent of the population aged over 14 - about 690,000 Australians - admitted to going to work under the influence of alcohol.A further 1.6 per cent, or 276,000 people, said they went to work after taking drugs.
But Victorian Trades Hall Council secretary Brian Boyd said the real figure was likely to be closer to two million.
"Even if it's an anonymous survey people worry about getting caught," the Herald Sun quoted Boyd, as saying.
The problem was most serious in young building and construction workers, he said.
"We have a zero-tolerance approach," Boyd said.
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